Silvia was born and mostly raised in Galesburg, Illinois. After high school she took a gap year and spent it in Mexico before pursuing her bachelor’s in English at Grinnell College.

She interned at Minnesota Public Radio and...

Silvia was born and mostly raised in Galesburg, Illinois. After high school she took a gap year and spent it in Mexico before pursuing her bachelor’s in English at Grinnell College.

She interned at Minnesota Public Radio and wrote in English and Spanish for the bilingual, Chicago-based newspaper Extra News. In 2015, she won the two-year Hearst Journalism Fellowship and moved to Connecticut to report for Greenwich Time, the Connecticut Post and the Norwalk Hour.

One year later, she moved to Texas to cover education for the San Antonio Express-News, where she now covers immigration. She has also been the lead reporter following the Sutherland Springs community in the wake of the November 2017 church massacre.

She loves breakfast tacos, frequently uses “y’all” in her vocabulary and always has a stash of cascarones at her desk, so it’s safe to say she’s fully embraced the San Antonio way.